CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mikael Backlund had a goal and an assist to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
Markus Granlund, Sean Monahan and Michael Frolik also scored, and Dennis Wideman and Mark Giordano had two assists each as Calgary won its seven straight at home.
Karri Ramo, who has started three straight games and 15 of the past 16 for the Flames, made 31 saves to earn his ninth win of the season.
Chris Tierney and Joe Thornton scored for the Sharks, losers of four straight. Logan Couture made his return to the San Jose lineup after missing 23 games with a broken right fibula. He had an assist on Thornton’s goal.
Martin Jones started in net for the Sharks and stopped 11 of 14 shots he faced before being replaced by Alex Stalock, who made 17 saves in relief.
The Flames jumped out to a pair of leads in the first period, but both times the Sharks answered right back.
Granlund opened the scoring on the first shot of the game at 1:45 when he took a cross-ice feed from Jiri Hudler and snapped a shot over Jones’ blocker to the top corner.
The Sharks pulled even at 4:31 when Tierney swatted a rebound past Ramo, who stopped the initial backhand shot from the slot by Joonas Donskoi.
The Flames had a pair of great chances to take the lead, but defenseman T.J. Brodie rang a shot off the post before Jones stopped a redirection by Granlund with his mask.
Monahan put the Flames up 2-1 during a power play at 8:07, but the Sharks responded with a power-play goal of their own by Thornton, who redirected a shot by Patrick Marleau at 11:02.
Frolik scored on a backhand at 2:27 of the second to put the Flames back up before Monahan one-timed a pass from Johnny Gaudreau a short time later. Monahan’s goal was waved off after video reviewed showed that the Flames had gone offside on the play.
The Flames took a 4-2 lead at 8:59 of the second when Backlund snapped a shot from the slot past Stalock.
The Sharks outshot the Flames 9-8 in the third but couldn’t get any pucks past Ramo, who made a nice glove save to stop a point shot by Brent Burns during a late power play.
NOTES: Both teams were missing key defensemen due to injury. The Sharks were without Marc-Andre Vlasic (lower body) for the second straight game, while Kris Russell (upper body) missed his second game in a row for Calgary. ... The Flames had just one goal in their previous 28 power-play chances before Monahan’s goal.